


Chaotic: The New Generation

by Rosesarepurple



Category: Chaotic (Cartoon)
Genre: Children of Characters, Gen, Meddling Kids, Next Generation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-04-12 12:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19131892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosesarepurple/pseuds/Rosesarepurple
Summary: Our four heroes stopped coming to Chaotic and Perim years ago! Chaotic had to be shut down for unknown reasons.Until now...Angel, Manny, Kat and Kit are up for their own antics in Perim!  Like their parents, it's all fun and games, until their adventure starts getting a little too deep.Why was Chaotic offline for so long?  Who was responsible?  New and old friends will be there!





	1. The First Steps to Greatness

**Author's Note:**

> Word around the internet is that this show might be coming back. In hopes of that, I'm posting this story here. If you like it let me know. If you don't... meh, still let me know in the comments!

Dad used to tell me all these stories when I was a kid. Mom would tell him to stick to Mother Goose stories, but I loved the adventures he used to tell me about. They were my special stories. Ones that Dad made just for me. At the time I really believed him, I wanted a place like Perim to be real and then I could go have adventures like Dad told me about. About the time I was twelve, I stopped believing them, but I kept the cards Dad gave me. Mom even gave me some of hers. At night I sometimes flip through them, remembering their names and stories Dad told, but then I put them away.

The cards were from a game back in my parents’ days, called Chaotic. Four tribes of strange and amazing creatures battling to survive in the world of Perim, that’s the game. Dad would often tell me the stories about the Overworlders, and based on the cards Mom gave me, she was a Danian fan. The Other two tribes, Underworlders and Mipedians, were also in Dad’s deck, but not as much as the Overworld Tribe. He would make those pictures just about come alive with his stories. They were so detailed I was convinced they were real!

  
But reality eventually brings you back and the stories go back to being stories.  
The reality is: now I’m a girl in her second year of high school. I have an artsy best friend named Manny Rosen who’s freaking out about his Algebra test, and Club meeting coming up.

  
“Ange, seriously! I need to cram like now!” Manny is practically begging as we both go to our lockers.

  
I enter my code and smile. “I already gave you all the notes I have, Manny. You choose to watch Always On The Beat last night, so it’s your own fault.”  
“There should be allowance in homework for family time!” he continued to complain. “I should have asked my Dad for a note!”

  
Thing is: Manny’s dad probably would have written one. “Mr. Rodson wouldn’t accept it anyway.” I tell him, still typing in my locker-code. “He doesn’t like technology much, so he keeps his course old-fashioned. You have a whole hour of lunch before the test, at least study then so you have a chance of passing.”

  
“Nuh-uh! No way!” Manny crossed his arms in defiance. “Like Dad says: Ya can’t cram your mouth and your brain at the same time!”

  
I close my locker and look at my over-weight friend oddly. “Uh… yes, you can.”  
“Well, maybe yooouuu can Angel.” I laugh. Manny has a way of getting me to. His dad and my mom were friends from way back in high school, and they still are. So I’ve known Manny basically all of my life. He’s like a brother to me, so no matter how immature or illogical he acts, we’ve always got each other’s backs. Which is good cause we both ended up outcasts in our own ways.

“Give it your best shot, Manny!” I cheer him on. “I’ve got my own plans at the Chaotic Club for lunch.”

  
“Oh, gosh! That’s today?” Manny says, surprised.

  
“We need to get you a calendar, buddy.”

  
The Chaotic Club is based on the card game that goes decades back. A lot of them are kids like me who have cards their parents saved and continue to buy them to make their own decks. The club has fallen into the category of geeks/nerds with a vintage hobby, but I don’t care and neither does anyone who shows up. Chaotic still sells cards, newer ones with different images than in Dad and Mom’s day. I would have used theirs, but their so old now that they’re valuable! I don’t want to sell them, so I keep them at home where they are safe.

  
The club meets in the computer room. There are desks to play, trade cards, and computer where we can access our card codes and play on there. My match is going to be online, I just brought my deck for… emotional support. I flip up the card on the top. It’s Maxxor.

  
My deck does have the similar Creatures that Dad’s had. There are some of the others mixed in, but my deck is mostly Overworld. This is my fantasy, my childhood! “Time to get Chaotic.” I say quietly, then I enter the clubroom.

  
My opponent, FlyingFelix9, has his Rothar down to just 10 energy points. My Lystone, has 20, so I’m gonna need the right mugic to get out of this with a victory. I click to turn over my next card….  
Perfect!  
“A Caster’s Warsong!” I play it and win the match.

  
The crowd that had gathered behind me gave me congratulations. I sent a thank you to FlyingFelix9 for a good match. He didn’t respond and just logged off, so I did the same.  
“PerimPride: still number one!” Diana, the scorekeeper of the club, gives me another tally on her list. This time was pretty much luck, but I do have a solid winning streak around here. It gets me a lot of attention and a lot more challenges. I love that part of it too! This is honestly the most fun thing I can do while sitting still. I’m in one of the geek clubs, but I’m the ace in my P.E. class!

  
As the praise continues on my winning streak, in my backpack I hear a ringtone. In order to do the online battles you need a special kind of scanner to link up to the computer. Mine is purple.

  
“Whatya got there, Angel?” Victor, another player, asks me.

  
“Hang on Vic, let me read it.” Since the whole group is looking at me in interest, I read it out loud. “‘Congratulations, PerimPride on your 50th straight victory for Chaotic’s online system.’ Well, that’s nice of them!”

  
“Keep reading!” Diane emcourages from over my shoulder.

  
So I do. “‘We would like to invite you to the reopening of a new Chaotic for select players worldwide!’ Whoa! ‘If you wish to accept: please enter the code in this email into your scanner and brace yourself for a new, life changing adventure. Offer valid through the next 24 hours. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you there, PerimPride.’”  
The entire Chaotic club was gasping and awing at my message. Some were already chanting for me to enter it. The password looked like a random jumble of letters and numbers. Somehow it gave me an odd feeling. “I- I don’t know guys.” I said to the eager group. “This message doesn’t have any kind of return address. What if it’s a hacker or something that could steal from my online account?” One or two of the other members nodded their heads. We’ve had experience with compromised tech before.  
And what a time for Manny to run in! “Ange!” he called running from the door. “Don’t tell me I missed your match! Man! And just when I got the good news that the test was canceled.”

  
“Sorry, Manny.” I told him with a chuckle. “But look at this!” He came over and read the message on my scanner.

  
“No way!” Manny exclaimed. “You too?”

  
Many pulled out his own orange scanner. “I got one this morning, but I didn’t enter the code cause I almost missed the bus.”

  
So this is either a scam, or a massive legit offer. “So…” I looked between ourselves and around the room. “What do we do if this backfires on us?”  
Manny shrugged. “Meh… If you’re doing it, I’ll do it. This could fry our scanners, but these are replaceable. And we can both stick to our cards in the meantime if we have to.”  
My best friend, though he is, isn’t known for making the safest decisions. But then again, I’ve always been the daring one. I smile confidently up at Manny and say. “Alright! At the same time then!”

  
Manny and I both enter the codes we each got. The whole room stays quiet either going back to their own games or watching us to see what will happen. Our fingers hover over the enter button. “Ready?” Manny asks.

  
I look around at the room and then down at my scanner. “Ready.” I affirm.

  
We both press enter. Our screens warp… and then go dark. “What?” Shocked, Manny and I try to turn them back on our activate the keys. “It was a scam!” I cry out angrily. The rest of the room groans and walks away. “Oh, that was so stupid of us! Manny, these cost too much for me to ask my mom for a new one!”  
Manny was disappointed to. “Okay, chill. Let’s take these home and show your mom. Chances are we’ll each get a ‘you-should-have-known-better’ speech number 1-4-9, but it might give us a chance to earn some cash-o-la.”

  
I sighed, feeling defeated. I love playing the card game, but I’ve become pretty popular and known online. It feels like a part of my world has been cut off from me.

What I didn’t know then, was that a whole other world was about to be reopened for my generation.


	2. First Steps to Greatness 2

While one part of me was in the computer lab, cursing my own stupidity, another part of me was falling through a vortex of light, cursing my stupidity.

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!” I squeezed my eyes shut, but that’s when the falling stopped and my feet felt solid ground beneath my shoes. I also realized that the screaming wasn’t mine, it was Manny’s! “Aaaaaaahhhh!” And another kid. And another.

“Please, step off the transport.” A robotic voice said. In front of me was a floating machine the size of a toaster with a detachable screen ‘looking’ at me. I was scared, I felt like I had just been kidnapped! I was so mad, but I had to calm Manny down. I took him by his arm, noticing me, Manny fell into breathing heavily. I guided him off the white platform we were standing on and down a few steps.

The place we found ourselves in was a pure white, high tech, and opened sky court. But the sky… it wasn’t the right shade of blue, and even though it was light and clear, there was no sun that I could see. More and more people started showing up on other platforms like the one Manny and I had just been on. All different ranges of age, backgrounds, and everything!

“Manny?” I whispered quietly. “Where are we?”

“I-I-I-I d-d-d-don’t know!” Manny stuttered. “Th-This isn’t anywhere in the city! Angel, do think we’ve been abducted by aliens?” He seemed almost excited about that.

I hit him on the shoulder. “I think this is a bit more serious than that!”

One of the robots came up to us. Manny quickly grabbed onto me. I know some self-defense, so if these guys think I’ll go down easy- “Welcome to The Port Court! May I take your order, Miss?” I could see that Manny was confused as I was. We looked back at the hovering robot. It said, “We have Barath Beyond Borritos, Onion Rings of Naria, Perim Pizza, Bloogon Burgers, Simark Shakes, Frafdo Fries and Chaor Krunchies for the breakfast crowd.”

If I could draw a picture of our faces, they’d probably look like this: 0-o?

Manny covered his mouth and whispered to me. “What’s that thing talking about?!”

I answered. “I don’t know, but they can’t make me eat the onion rings.”

“We’ll take an order!”

I looked behind me. A girl about our age with red hair with blonde highlights came running up waving her arm. She was wearing a bright yellow T-shirt, with a tan vest over it and some capri pants with red sandals. Around her neck was a pair of deep red headphones. “I’d like the onion rings with some ketchup, and a soda! Oh, and one of those burgers for my brother.”

“Your brother?” I asked her out of curiosity. I soon got my answer.

“Kat!” Another boy soon came running out of the crowd. “You can’t leave me behind like that!” He had similar, spiky hair to his sister, but he was wearing a green shirt without any vest and pair of pink-shaded glasses. Pants too, jeans.

The robot left to get their food. I tired talking to the two of them. “You... guys knows what going on here? We get kidnapped and then get a lunch order?”

The girl looked right at me when I talked to her. I noticed that she and her brother both had similar brown eyes. They must be twins. Immediately, the girl came up and shook my hand. “Sorry, ‘bout that! I just got so excited. My name’s Kat! Katherine Kalinkas, but call me Kat! This!” She grabbed her brother, forcing him to come closer. “Is Kit! Kit Kalinkas. Our online names are Taki-Names67 and All-H’earring53!”

That didn’t answer my questions, but I smiled and waved hello just the same. Kat slung her arm over her brother who blushed as he waved back. “C’mon, let’s get a table!” Kat got her other arm around my back and dragged Manny along with me and Kit.

We found a table for the four of us and sat down. Some others were following our lead and looking around. Everywhere there were tables to sit and giant screens everywhere in the building. Kat was looking around excitedly, as was Manny as he started to relax and let me go. I was feeling interested too, but poor Kit was practically in a ball looking around nervously.

Feeling sorry, I tried talking to him. “Hey,” I said, calmly getting his attention. He looked up at me for a second, then quickly looked back down. I continued talking. “It’s going to fine. You have your sister here, don’t you? Nothing bad has happened, there’s even some food coming right now.” He slowly got out of his ball, but Kit still didn’t look up.

“It’s actually kind of nice here.” I said. By now I was talking to both calm myself and the group. “You can see the sky or… whatever I’m looking at. This place looks pretty clean, and it doesn’t look like anyone’s been hurt on coming over here.” I tried to steer my conversation in another direction. “Your sister said your name is Kit, right?” He nodded. _Ah-ha! We have contact!_ “What’s Kit short for?”

“Kristopher….” He muttered. “I’m the younger twin.”

“And the quiet one.” Kat added. “What about you two?”

“I’m The-Man90. That’s Nine-Oh! Manny.” My friend stated. Kat snorted and rolled her eyes, but she humored him. “We just entered a code cause we won some contest and then we showed up here.”

“Us too!” Kat squealed. “Isn’t this great?!”

“Not the word I would use.” I told her.

She looked at me questioningly. “What? Are you kidding? Do you guys have any idea where we are?!”

“No! That’s why I don’t like this.” I said.

Kat huffed, but it was Kit who answered. “Our Dad used to tell us about a place like this that closed while he was in college. He met a lot of friends here, and spent practically all his time playing Chaotic.”

“So don’t get any ideas that this is a hostage situation.” Kat said. “We can go home when we want, but you’d be missing all the fun if you leave now~!”

My first impression of Kat is that she’s a little crazy, or at least as crazy as her brother is shy. They both seem to have arrived only a little after Manny and I did. _Wait… She said something about the Chaotic game. The same game Manny and I entered the code for just before…._

Addressing pretty much everyone in the group, (even Manny though he won’t know) I say, “So we’re here because of those codes?”

“Bingo!” Kat points at me. “Daddy told me about this. It’s like our brain-waves have been have been sent over and put into weird digital bodies that are just like the originals. Basically we’re the codes or something. But we can eat, sleep, and get hurt over here and still feel it. But in the matter of fatal injury, we just become code and-”

While Kat was speaking, an alarm suddenly went off. We all look up, noticing that the screens had some kind of silver target with a red center. The outer part of the target began rotating around the red center for a few seconds. Then the image was replaced with the strangest, whitest, full-head mask I have ever seen. It kind of reminded me of a car.

“Welcome, Chaotic Players all!” The voice was male. Deep, and robotic, but somehow nice at the same time. A lot of other people standing around us in the court were angrily shouting as they looked up at his every image. Then he spoke again above the noise. “It is understandable that many of you are angry and confused by this occurrence. But let me assure you, no harm is meant to come to you here. You each entered your own code, thus you accepted our invitations.” S _o he’s telling us that if we’re here, then we got what we asked for._ My thoughts were snarky, I was still mad.

He continued with his speech. “And we shall deliver on our promise. You are the first wave of a new generation in Chaotic. While many have moved on or forgotten the game, all of you have proven to be worthy players of the game. Currently, you are all waiting in what is called the Port Court, any time you wish leave simply stand on the transport and press the activation button on your scanner. One of the robots here in the Court can assist you. Your Earth-selves will know you wish to return when a light flashes on your scanner. Your online cards will be locked until you return. But your full decks are available on your scanners here. Your individual memories will be preserved and sent along with you.

“As promised, a great adventure awaits all of you here in Chaotic. Here in the seven Battle Dromes, you can play as the very characters you admire and have won to be accepted here! If any player manages to beat seven challenges in a row, he or she will receive a challenge from a Codemaster of that Drome. Upon defeating a Codemaster, a rare and valuable scan will be rewarded. What’s more… the actual world of Perim is at your fingertips! “Those same transports which take you home, also can take you to the world of Perim. Your scanners have the updated ability to scan 5 Creature, Mugic and Location scans at a time. Lock them once you have the ones you want or the older scan will be erased. Also, a fair warning: You are not protected beyond your own skills while in Perim. You can be injured by the Creatures or the Locations. Any personal injury here will code you and instantly send you back to your Earth-selves, and you will be locked out of this Chaotic forever.

“Good luck to all of you. Time to get Chaotic!” And the screens turns to that rotating symbol.

The whole room is dead silent.

Then an uproar of cheers and mixed screams filled the room!

Manny was among those cheering as he stood up on his chair. Our new friends Kat and Kit were looking on with slightly amused, but already aware faces. “Well,” Kat said, leaning over the table and resting her face on her fist. “That was preachy.”

“But informative.” Kit said. He turned and met eyes with me. “All that he said is true. You can go to Perim for real using your own location scans. The scanner thing is new though.”

“Which one?” Manny asked. “It felt like we just got a school lecture.”

“The multiple scans thing.” Kat clarified. “The way Dad told us, it used to be just one of each and you had to save them back here. Hey, our foods here!”

Sure enough, an order of onion rings and a burger were put in front of the twins. “We got lunch detention when we activated our codes, so excuse me while I fill up!” Kat began rapidly shoving the onion rings into her mouth.

“You have detention for giving that guy a bloody nose.” Kat pointed out, picking up his burger. “I’m still studying for the Calculous test in the library.”

“That test isn’t for another week.” Kat said between bites. “Kit’s a math wiz. And an English expert, History-nut, and Sci-freak. The only place he falls short is P.E..”

Kit sent an annoyed look at his sister. “Well, if we’re telling our new friends about our flaws already: let’s talk about your detention record, prank-streak and failing grades!”

Now, I don’t know much about real siblings, but the tension in the air wasn’t making me comfortable. I looked over at Kat, taking a guess that she would be mad at him, like he was. She was just eating away one ring at a time. “Yeah.” She confessed with a relaxed grin. “But you know most of those are because I don’t let anybody mess with my little brother, right?”

 _Aww! She does those things to protect her brother? That’s sweet._ I looked across from me at Manny; I could tell he was thinking about the same thing. Manny was the freakier of the two of us. His dad is part of a rock band and has never really set solid boundaries with his son, wanting him to be free creatively. So in school he says and does some odd things, and he was picked on until I started stepping in. _These guys are okay, they can be friends._

“So you guys are twins, right?” Manny asked the most obvious question.

“Yep!” Kat told him. “Fraternal. I’m an hour older than Kit. What’re your guys’ names again? And give me your screen names too!”

“Kat!” Kit reprimanded.

“Chill, bro! It’s all good.” Manny said to him. “The names Manny. As in _The_ Mannny. Or The Mann. Or The-Man90. That’s nine-oh.” _That’s…my best friend for ya._

“As long as you don’t call him Manning Rosen, it’s fine.” I said with a quick laugh.

“Angel!” he whined. “Every time, man…. I mean wo-man.”

I smiled and then gave my own intro. “My name is Angelina. But Manny and everyone else calls me Angel. My online name is PerimPride.”

“What color is your scanner?” Kit asked holding up his pale green one.

It was still in my hand and I held it up for him. “Purple! I like blue, but this one seemed right for me.”

Simultaneously, Manny held up his dark green scanner and Kat held up a red one. Something was different about Kat’s though. While all three of our scanners were slim and fit in the palm of our hands, hers was the older version that was bigger than her hand. Like the one my Dad had saved.

“Um, Kat, can I ask you something?” I said pointing to her scanner.

“It’s a hand-me-down from Daddy-dear.” She said putting it back in her pocket. “I outfitted it to do the same things as the new ones though.” She got kind of a nostalgic look in her brown eyes. “It just meant so much to him, he always looked so alive when he talked about Chaotic.”

Memories of my own dad came flooding back. He seemed to enjoy those old stories even more than I did. _Was Dad a Chaotic player too?_ “Mine too.” I confessed to Kat. “At the time I thought he was just making up something to tell me about. Mom would get mad at him for getting me so riled up before bedtime.”

Kit and Kat laughed. “Ours too!” Kit said. “Dad used to keep old boxes and help us make the backyard look like mountain ranges and caves in the Underworld. His stories would get kind of scary though…”

“But they would always be exciting!” Kat finished. “That’s why we both made our screen names after Underworld Creatures.”

Manny asked. “So you’re both Underworld players?” The twins nodded. “Sweet! I’m a Mipedian maniac and little Angel here likes to crash in the Overworld.”

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. “But I also work Danians and the other tribes into my deck.”

With a confident grin, Kat stood up from her seat. “Then in that case, since the four of us are now friends… I think our first Drome matches should be with each other!”

“Huh?” The rest of us looked at Kat shocked and confused.

“They’ll be one-on-one matches. Me versus Angel, and Kit versus Manny!”

Kit’s shoulders fell, he said to us, “Best to just go along with it. Once Kat gets fired up, it’s best to just let her burn out.”

Kat’s eye narrowed as she smirked wide. “Hey, I don’t mean to decide everything. This is just the longest I’ve seen you talk to a girl and figure you wouldn’t want to fight her.”

Kit immediately blushed. Then he glared angrily at his sister. “Alright, that’s it, Kat! You and me in the Dromes for a one-on-one.”

“Okay, by me!” Kat said. “But now I want things to be even more interesting.”

“More?” I squeaked out. I was honestly feeling a little afraid of this.

“I don’t want to leave our new friends out. So we’ll make this a competition between the four of us.” Kat explained while the rest of us listened. “After I beat Kit,” he growled at her arrogant assumption. “I’ll fight either Manny or Angel. And whoever wins after that faces the next person. You guys in?”

Manny got a big excited smile on his face. He said to me, “Let’s do it, Angel!”

I had thought before that I was the adventurous one. But Kat here is on a whole other level. She seems pretty confident in her skills as they are now. I don’t like physical fighting, and that mask-guy said we would be playing as Creatures. _What does that mean? Is he serious?_ I was still lost in my confusion, but a Chaotic game is definitely something I can understand. _Irony, not lost on me._

“Okay, Taki-Names!” I said, determinedly smiling. “I’m in too!”


	3. First Steps to Greatness 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Liking this so far? Just heard that Chaotic might come back in 2020 should it prove to have a big enough fan base!

We got to one of the overly complicated-looking domes and scheduled the first match. Kit was still ticked off at his sister who was walking ahead like she had already won, while Manny and I were looking around like tourists. All of this was still sinking in for me. Not just that Chaotic was real, but by the fact that Dad’s stories could also have been real!

Did my mom ever know about this?”  I asked no one in particular.

          “Did she ever talk about Chaotic or Perim?”  Kat asked from ahead.

          “Just when she was telling Dad that he shouldn’t get me excited and that I was getting too old for it.”

          Kit looked over at me quizzically.  “Hmm.”  He shared a look with his sister that she just shrugged at.  “Maybe she did know, and she just didn’t want you to feel disappointed that you would never get to see it too.”

          “Dudes, this place is beyond awesome!”  Manny cried, pumping his fists in the air.  “Why would it just shut down out of the blue?”

“No one knows.”  Kit told us.  “Our dad never really told us that part.  But apparently it’s back up again.  Should we tell him about this?” He directed the question to Kat’s back.

          She replied.  “Maybe not in text.  The next time he comes home we should say something.”  Suddenly she stopped.  “You know-oof!”  None of us had been ready for her to stop and we all crashed and toppled on top of her.  Kit fell on her, I tripped on Kit and Manny tripped on me.

People were laughing around us.  When no one came to help we got off ourselves.  Brushing off, Kat said, “As I was saying:  we never settled on a prize for the victor.”

          “You get to say you beat all of us on your first day.”  Kit said.  “Aren’t bragging rights enough for you?”

          “Never.”  She deadpanned.  “How about this, little bro?  Since it’s our first day in Chaotic, the winner gets to decide where we first go in Perim.” 

          That offer made me do a double-take.  _Go anywhere in Perim?_ All the places I’ve battled, all the places I used to dream of seeing, all those places Dad talked about;  I could ACTUALLY go!!!  The Forest of Life, Kiru City, Lake Kenepo… All in my scanner and now just a button away?

 “Yes!!”  I jumped and agreed before I could contain myself.  People stared at me and I smiled in embarrassment.

          “Whoa,”  Manny patted me on the shoulder.  “Somebody’s hyped!  Angel’s usually the in-the-cool one.”

          “Then the prize is set.”  Kat put her hands on her hips.

          “I-It makes more sense too.”  I said, overcoming my sudden shyness.  “To go in a group I mean.  I want go, but I’d be afraid going by myself.”  I’d always imagined going there with Dad.  In his stories he’d said that Locations alone can be more dangerous than running into Creatures.  As we walked on to the Battledrome, I flipped through the locations in my deck to decide where might be a good place to start.  _Tourist sickness, and I haven’t even battled yet._

We actually went to the BetaDrome and got a match right away.  Kit was still fuming over his sister teasing him, so they went first while Manny and I waited outside the dome.

          “Pretty funky looking, eh Ange?”  Manny elbowed me, pointing up to the BetaDrome. 

          “Yeah…”  I replied.  I was only half-paying attention to what Manny was saying.  “This whole thing overwhelming, Manny.  What did that masked-guy mean when he said we could turn into Creatures?  Do you think he was serious?”

          “People in masks shouldn’t generally be trusted, Angel.”  He said.  “Masked wrestlers, masked intruders, masked emails, masked ninjas, masked magicians-” I quickly covered Manny’s mouth with my hand.

          “I get it.”  I took my hand away and said, “There are just so many questions I have.  But most of them lead back to: how real were the things Dad told me?  He never, ever said this was real.  Mom is the realistic one and she always put it down like it was just a game.  Did she know about it?  Did my Dad ever got to Chaotic?”

“Whoa-Whoa!  Easy does it!”  Manny was gripping his head with both hands.  “I’d rather be taking the math test than your line of unanswerable inquiry.” 

          “Well, you’ve already used two words I thought you wouldn’t know.” I said.

          “Okay there!”  He smiled and pointed right at me.  “That’s the Angel I know.  Now just make sure she stays there and we can ride this ride out.”

          _Sometimes Manny is a goof, and sometimes he’s the brother I’ve never had,_ But looking up at Kit and Kat right now, their sibling relationship  is a battle in and of itself!  I watch, learning how everything is set up.  The scanners are put in pedestal-like holders, and then some screen projections appeared in front of each of them.  We could hear them talking as we watched on some stands outside.

          “Think Dad’s gonna flip when we tell him about this?”  Kat asked as she arranged her deck.

Kit answered her crossly.  “That Chaotic is back?  Maybe.  But me beating you in a Chaotic match?  That’s happened before.”  That earned him an angry look from Kat.

          “I wouldn’t bet on your Mom believing you, Angel.”  Manny said sitting next to me.  “If she ever did go to Chaotic, you would have heard her talking about it.”  

          “ _Welcome, Players to the Battledrome! ”_   A deep, mechanical voice seemed to echo from that floating symbol target above Kit and Kat.  They did, and the Drome-voice spoke again.  “ _Kat Kalinkas, online name Taki-Names67 and Kit Kalinkas, online name All-H’earring53; this is the first Chaotic match for the both of you.  Since Taki-Names issued the challenge,  All-H’earring shall be the attacking player.”_

          I watched as closely as I could.  Seeing them turn certain spinner and moving cards around on the effects screen.  _Just like in the online game, then._   It’s good that the rules and layout aren’t all that different.   I thought that would make the game easier.  The match was set up to be one-on-one. So I figured it would be over quick.

Then things got freaky.

          The location was chosen: The Lava Pond.  Kit called out like a battle cry.  “Magmon attacks… Takinom.”

          We watched at the touched their scanners one last time, before the pedestal sunk into the floor with the devices.  The moment they were gone, a vortex of white light swirl around the red-head siblings.  Manny gasped along with me as we watched as the light gave way to the very forms the two had declared for their match.

          Magmon, a humanoid mass of black rock with lava visible beneath his form, studied his arms and legs and shifted around like he was uncomfortable.  Takinom, the winged, scaly, female general of the Underworld  examined her claws in awe, then looked behind her to test her wings like she had never had them.

“Kit?  Kat?”  I stood up and stared at the screen.  _Are those… real?  Is this what that guy meant?  Where are Kat and Kit?_

          “I think that’s them!”  Manny exclaimed.

          In the Battledrome, Magmon said to Takinom,  “…Sis?”

          Takinom looked across the room at Magmon, “Kit…?”

          The look on their faces were mirrors of shock despite that looked much less similar to each other now.  “Awesome!”  the both cried out.

          And the Drome was filled with a white light.  When it cleared, they were facing each other in the dark, rocky, lava filled wasteland of the Underworld.   I tried to make eye-contact with Manny, but he wasn’t looking away for anything.  _It looks like the two of them are okay, despite their bodies completely changing.  If that’s gonna happen to me and Manny, I should watch and learn while I can._   So I glued my eyes to that screen.

“Try this!”  Magmon yelled.  “Rock wave!”  He hit the ground with his fists a series of rocks shot out of the ground towards Takinom, as did the lava that was part of the environment.  It hit her hard.  It showed on another screen the power and states of the match, and Takinom’s just showed she took some damage.  Back in the Lava Pond, Takinom looked like she definitely had taken a good hit. 

          “Kat!” Magmon called out like he was worried and regretful.  He started lumbering up to his sister’ new form when she leapt in the air and cried out, “Flame Orb!”  Sending him toppling onto his back.

Takinom laughed triumphantly as she took to the air.  “I’m just fine, bro.  But a battle is a battle!  Neither of us leaves here until the other goes down.”  Magmon growled at her in response.  He rolled to the side and pushed himself up, but he quickly fell down again.  _Magmon looks like he’d be really heavy.  Guess that means in the dromes you get the ‘real body’ experience._   I wondered if that also means he’s impervious to the heat from lava. 

          Takinom took advantage of his unbalance swooped down on him.  She tried to pick Magmon up, but he was too heavy for her.  She ended up dropping him… right into the Lava Pond!  They both cried out, until Kit’s Creature disappeared under the glowing liquid earth.  Takinom fell to the ground, all thoughts of her wings gone.  “No!  Kit!”  she sounded like Takinom (or something different than her own voice)  but her words were 100% Kat.  “I’m so sorry!”

          Outside, where I was watching with Manny, I  said.  “Manny… Did….Did Kit just die?”

          The sound of a soda slurping broke my focus from the monitor.  Apparently Manny had gotten a soda.  “What?  Sorry, I missed it.”  I punched him on the shoulder, and not in the friendly way. 

          “Pay attention this time!”  And my sight returned to the match. 

Somehow Magmon had managed to climb up one of the boulders, simultaneously shooting fire attacks back and forth with Takinom.  The two weren’t bantering any more, the attacks were speaking for them.  Rock waves, Flame Orbs, even old-fashion fist fighting were going on in there.  _So it’s all fair game in there, huh?  I recognize those attacks too.  Normally you need a card or know the ability to state the attack, how do Kit and Kat know what to do?_

          “Alright, Magmon!”  Takinom roared furiously.  “Time to remind _you_ why Takinom is the alpha-female of the Underworld!”  Dodging a flame attack, Takinom swooped in and picked up Magmon from behind.  He cried out, but this time she wasn’t going to drop him.  She started flying around in a circle with him, picking up speed a little at a time.  Faster and faster, until even Manny and I started feeling dizzy!  Then he grabbed his arm with both claws and used her momentum to start spinning him around and around just herself.  Until, finally, she threw him… Right.  Into.  The wall.

The screen went white.  Then the green room inside the Battledrome returned.  Standing right where they had started was an unharmed Kit and… Takinom?  “ _The winner of this match:  Taki-Names!_ ”

          “Wo-hoo!”  Takinom cheered as she jumped up and morphed back into being Kat.  “Taking names and taking out!  That’s me game!”

          Kit, back in his human form, groaned and placed his hand to his head.  The other hand picked up the scanner.  “Yeah, yeah… Fine.  Go ahead, brag away.  You only win for today, Kat.”  I didn’t see them walking out, it only took one shared look between me and Manny before we rushed off to see them.

          We met them outside the Drome a short time later in the Port Court.  Manny burst into a fan-craze before I could even get started.  “Bros!  That was- Like- INSANE!!!  I mean, you were Takinom and Magmon!  And you were REALLY fighting at Lava Pond!”

          “I know right!”  Kit answered back just as excited.  “I was practically starstruck!  Nothing could have prepared me for this!  I even FELT like I was Magmon.”

          “Did you guys really get hurt?”  That was my big question.  What are we really getting into if we go in that Drome?

Kat answered.  “Thing is:  We did and we didn’t.”  We sat on a bench near a plant-like-hedge as we listened to her explain.  “When we were the Creatures we could tell we were hurt, and how much, but it wasn’t like taking a real hit.  And believe me, I’ve taken a few.”

          “She has.” Kit confirmed.

          “Anyway, when the match was over Kit and I were back to 100%.  It was more like we had run a marathon than thrown fireballs at each other.  It’s really like the Creature is the one fighting.  Once you set your mind like that, you get what you’re supposed to do!”

_Well, that’s helpful._   So no one really gets hurt.  _But we are doing some of the work because the player feels a tad tired afterwards._   Knowing that, I did feel like I could begin enjoying coming to Chaotic now.  It’s still a game, just a lot more interactive!

          “So, who’s my next victim?”  Kat asked, rubbing her hands together.

          “Me!  Me!”  Manny stood up and raised his hand.  “Sorry Angel!  But this game looks too good to miss out on.”

          “That’s fine with me.”  I said.  “I’ll can go after.”

          “So Mr. Man thinks he can beat me when my own brother couldn’t?”  Kat teased.  Maybe she just likes getting her potential opponents worked up and ready to go?  Kind of like how I tease Manny right before an online or card match.

          “Imma lot more man than he is!”  Manny laughed patting his large stomach.  We all laughed.

          As Manny and Kat went to the Drome to get ready, I had some time to talk with Kit.  That match had kinda dried him out, so we each got a drink while we waited.  “Um….”  Kit said, scratching his head nervously.  “Sorry about my sister.”

I took a drink of my own soda.  I could taste it, feel it, and it was good.  I was talking to Kit, though I couldn’t look up from my drink.  “Same with me…”  I remember sitting on my bed, looking up at Dad as he explained every Location, and told me about every Creature.  They all had personalities some were funny, others were brave, some were loyal and others were wise.  There were bad guys in the stories plenty of times.  Dad even used to a few of those in his deck.  “When I was a kid, my Dad made his stories seem so real!  Mom was my anchor back to reality, but she never stopped me from playing the game.  I’m still going over what he used to tell me!  If I knew all this was for real, then for sure I would have wanted to come.”

“Well, we’re all going to Perim once this little tournament is finished!”  Kit seemed to have regained some his enthusiasm.  “Kat will stand by her deal that we all go together.  Even if she loses.  It’s safer anyway since no one has any idea what to expect.  Our dads’ generation or not, it’ll be rough territory wherever we go.”

          “If Manny wins, he’ll definitely want to check out a Mipedian Location.”  I said.  “That’s fine… I just might be on edge in a place where giant lizards can turn invisible and sneak up behind me.”

          “If you really like Overworlders, then you already know they won’t lay out the welcome mat either.”  Kit pointed that out.  “I’m not trying to offend anybody, I just want to have a clear picture of what expect.  Humans haven’t been in Perim for about three decades or so.  Chances are these Creatures might or might not be so accepting of us coming back.”

          “What makes you say that, Kit?”  I asked.

He leaned back and folded his arms, with an unsure look on his face.  “Realistically:   we don’t know _why_ Chaotic was shut down.  There’s a good chance that something in Perim happened and it wasn’t safe for humans afterward.”

          I had wondered about that.  In all the excitement I guess it just slipped my mind.  “But that Codemaster guy said we could go.”

          “Yeah, he did.  But he didn’t guarantee that the residence would be okay with us.  That’s why here your scanner is your life!”  Kit was totally serious behind those pinkish glasses.  “The breaking of your scanner is the breaking of your body.”

          “And vice versa.” I agreed.

“Either way, you’re gone and out.”  Kit continued.  “So be careful with what you chose as a prize.  Kat will choose an Underworld Location.  I don’t know which, but it’s no place for a rookie to get their feet wet.  She’ll get in way over her head even if we don’t run into a Creature and be code right from the start!  Ugh, plus if she wins it will really go to her head…”

          As Kit groaned in annoyance, I couldn’t stop myself from giggling.  He looked up at me oddly.  “No!  No!  I’m sorry!”  I quickly apologized though I kept on smiling.  “It’s just-  That’s probably the same thing Manny will do!”  As I talked with Kit he listened on with mild interest.  “Manny isn’t my brother.  But we’ve been friends for so long that it feels like he really his.  Even back on Earth he would usually do or say something crazy and I would have to bail him out.  And just as many times when I wanted to do something, Manny’s always had my back.  If he wins I’ll back him up on wherever he wants to go.  Part of the fun is the surprises.  I’m sure you just want to choose a safer Location in the Underworld than Kat might want!”

At the end, Kit’s eyes looked bigger.  Like he was realizing something or had just heard something so new to him.  _I did get a little too open there.  Maybe I just said too much?_   “Erm… Sorry.  That was kind of out there!”  I took a huge sip through my straw to wash down the embarrassment.  _I hadn’t meant to reveal so much!  But there’s just something about those two.  It’s so odd… but it feels like I’ve been friends with both of them for a long time, and we only met a few hours ago._

          “No it’s…”  Somehow, he seemed almost as embarrassed as I was.  “It’s just that hard to find someone who relates to my situation with Kat.”  That was the first time I heard him call her that.  “My sister… You’ve seen how she is a little, but I know where it counts she’s got my back too.  Just wish she wasn’t so forceful about it.  You’re easy to talk to… Angel.”

          Before we could continue, Manny and Kat’s match just got started.  Manny would be the attacking player, since this was still her challenge.  _I need to watch this real close now.  I’ll be going up against either one of them next._   Manny chose Siado as his attacking Creature.  Kat was sticking with Takinom.

“That’s kind of unfair.”  I stated.  “She’s already gotten used to Takinom.   Shouldn’t Kat be trying someone new?”

          “If it’s not in the agreed rules, she can do it.”  Kit simply replied.  “Kat’s a big Takinom fan.  She probably wants to learn (heaven forbid) whatever she can about her big hero.”

          I kind of agreed with that.  I wasn’t even sure of where I wanted to go in Perim.  Really, I should have been concentrating on _who_ I was going to battle with!  I thought of my Danians… but it might be too big of a change to suddenly get four additional legs. Manny might let me get used to that, Kat would be a different story.  She was playing to win!  Plus, not a lot of Danians are good at water, and that definitely would be a big help if she sticks with Takinom.  _Then maybe I-_

          “Angel, are you watching?”  Kit snapped me out of my thoughts.  “The Location is the Sha-Kree Flats.  You remember that Location’s influence right?”

          I did.  “Each Creature’s health drops after each attack.  It’s also a strategic place for an Elementalist because they can gain one elemental attack at the start.”

          Kit blinked twice.  _I guess he wasn’t expecting me to know._    He picked up his drink and said.  “I think you and I are going to get along a-okay.  Watch the match, you’ll have the best chance if you can pick up on my sister’s strategy.”

Following Kit’s advice, I did.  Sha-Krees Flats is nothing but dry, cracked earth for miles and miles.  I called it a good strategic move on Manny’s part.  It’s the complete opposite of where Kat was battling in the Underworld.  And she doesn’t have any rocks to throw him against or hide behind.  _Manny really was watching!_   Takinom (Kat) was firing orbs again from up in the air, getting visibly tired after each throw. 

          “Guess ya didn’t know!” Shouted Siado (Manny), dodging attacks by moving left and right.  “You can’t afford to miss!  Every attack does damage on ya Taki!”

          Takinom growled angrily.  She landed on the cracked earth, sweating hard.  _Why didn’t she sweat in the Lava Pond?_   I decided not to question it too far.  Siado turned invisible, which made the match seem all the more frustrating to Takinom.  She looked around, even spreading out her wings like she was ready to jump and take flight at even the hint of an attack.   

The whole Drome was still. Only the wind made any noise.  _Yeah, there’s apparently wind._

Takinom’s eyes were darting in every direction.  Manny was smart to pick this Location.  I wondered how he learned to go invisible?  I didn’t see him activate anything like mugic.  So I can guess special abilities like that just play in with the Creature.  _This is so cool!  I can’t wait for my turn!_   The match was still going.  Takinom won’t make any kind of reckless attack now that she knows it will weaken her.  _It’s possible Manny is waiting for her to run out of patience so she attacks and he can have a little more of an advantage over her._   Manny’s pretty much a goof in every area except in Chaotic games.  There, he’s serious.

          Kit and I were on the edge of our seats waiting for something to happen.  _Manny must really be enjoying his dramatic approach.  If only he would  GET ON WITH IT!_

          Then right behind Takinom,  he appeared.  “Cyclone Slash!”  A gust of air came off of Siado and hit Takinom right in her wings!  The impact caused her to cry out and be knocked down onto the ground.  Next Siado raised his hand in the air, a BattleGear I recognized as The Indigo Arc.

“How do you summon BattleGear?”  I asked Kit, watching Manny approach Kat.

          “I- I don’t know!”  Kit gasped.  “It didn’t use any!  I wanted to settle the match the same way Kat did.  Real fighting with no gear!”

          “Guess that’s fair game too.  Manny really was watching.  He knew he needed to be unexpected to beat Kat at this.”  I felt proud of him for minute.  Then realized that Manny winning would mean I’d have to face him next.  I didn’t feel too good about that…

          The axe he had summoned was known not to miss, and Takinom was too damaged to be able to move very fast.  I bit my lip, guessing at the outcome.  She glared over her shoulder at the approaching Mipedian.  “Fortissimo!”  She called out. 

_Mugic?!_

I heard the tune play and a shower of golden light fell over Takinom.  The moment it did, she grew to at least ten times her original height!  Blocking out the sun over the dried wasteland, casting a dark shadow over Siado.  He froze.  Eyes bulging he dropped his axe, completely taken off guard.  Giant Takinom grinned sadistically, raised her foot and stomped him out.

          Kat had won again.

          Since I hadn’t wanted to fight Manny I should have felt relieved then.  Instead there were about five knots on my stomach.  I pushed my soda away.  “Well…”  I breathed.  “That’s that.”

          “Yeah.”  Kit agreed.  “Did you learn anything?”

          I looked up at him.  I got the feeling that somehow Kit wanted his sister to lose.  Not just so he wouldn’t have to go to her Underworld choice prize, from talking to him I knew there was more to it than that.

          “Um…”  I replayed the two matches I had watched today side by side.  “Kat really likes Takinom… and since she’s won twice with her, Kat’s likely gonna use her again.  I should pick a Creature that counters out Takinom, like one with water abilities.”

          “That’s good.”  Kit stated like he was a professor, and eagerly urged me on.  “Now on strategy…”

 


	4. First Steps to Greatness 4

 

_Something nasty is about to hit the fan…_

          I was standing just outside the Drome.  Kat was waiting inside.  I was _all_ nerves.  Manny was standing next to Kit off to the side.  “You put that Underworlder in her place, Ange!”  Manny cheered. 

          “Ignoring that.”   Kit stated to Manny, then to me:  “You’ve got a solid strategy and know what to expect.  Good luck, Angel!”

          Looking over my shoulder, I smiled and nodded at them.  I have never been so nervous about anything- No, the school play tryouts, but still!  Once I went in there I would be changed, put into battle and then either come out a winner or a loser.  _No pressure…_ I breathed.  _This is just a game.  I won’t even really get hurt._ The fact that this of the game did give me one, solid drive.

          _I’m playing to win!_

          Still, I didn’t walk in there with much confidence.  Maybe that was why Kat was smirking as I walked holding my scanner close to my chest.  “I’ve been waiting for you to come in, Overworlder.” She said.

          I didn’t say anything, I just felt a slight glare creep onto my face as she said that.  My pride was enough for me to retort.  “Oh, I came to win, _Underworlder_.”  Kat’s eyes narrowed.

          I locked in my scanner and began arranging my board.  _Okay… so water Creatures include Intress, Owis, Antidaeon, and Katharaz.  I’ll just stick to the ones who have two legs.  A Torrent Krinth is a good BattleGear to start with.  And I need to pick one good mugic._   For Location, I put in a place Dad told me about in the Overworld, it seemed right to start out there.

          “You’ve seen me smoke both my brother and your best friend, PerimPride.”  Kat said once she was ready.  “I haven’t picked the Location I want yet, but just in case… Where would you want to go?”

          I looked over at her before I put in my last choice.  “Hopefully, it a place we all will like.  But you’ll have to wait until after I win to see it.”  I gave myself a boost of confidence from that.

          “Ooo!”  Kat mocked.  “And I had you for a ‘good-girl’.  Glad to see you’ve got some bite.”

          I locked in.  My scanner went down and our battleboards came up.  My eyes went wide at the sight of it.  Kat’s Takinom wasn’t there.

          “Chaor!?”  I shouted out.

          “Surprise!”  Kat stated.  “This is the last match, so I thought I’d change things up to be more interesting.  ‘Chaotic’ _is_ the name of the game.”

          I knew she was right.  I hated to admit it, but she had gone completely against the strategy Kit and I had made.  _Chaor breathes fire, so that advantage is still in.  But he’s the Underworld Tribe Leader!  He’s way stronger than Takinom!_   The mugic and BattleGear I have may not cut it anymore.  Kat totally flipped on me!

          “ _PerimPride,_ ” The Drome-voice sounded out. “ _Activate the Location Randomizer and state your attacking and target Creature._ ”  I got my game-face on.  Now I was mad, and that made me feel ready!  I spun the wheel between our two Locations.  It landed on mine.

          “ _Glacier Plains._ ”  The voice stated.

          I called out, “Intress attacks Chaor!”

          I saw a ring of light form around me.  As it rose up and around my body.  I could _feel_ myself changing!  My shoes morphed into unprotected feet with claws.  My muscles stretched and became longer, along with the rest of my body.  My clothes changed to that of Intress’ and orange fur grew on every inch of me!  It wasn’t painful, instead it felt like I was becoming something far stronger than my normal self.  I was becoming something deadly, fierce and unstoppable!  The stretching and fur eventually made it all the way up to my face which changed with it.  Finally, I opened my eyes.  I looked down at my hands.

          They weren’t mine.

          Neither was the tail!

          “If mom caught me in this outfit, she’d lock me up for life!”  I covered my mouth.  My voice was now that of an older woman’s.  Intress was a lot like a tiger, and her voice was somewhere between a giant cat’s and a strong woman you wouldn’t want to mess with!

          “Take a minute, I can wait.”  Said a deep, male, gravelly voice.  I looked up across the room, there was Chaor where Kat had been standing.  “Your friend Manny screamed when he saw _his_ tail.”  _Must have missed that when I was talking to Kit._   Kat flexed her new, giant red muscles.  “Now I really feel _powerful!_ ”

          I smiled and looked at her challengingly.  It even felt like some of Intress’ own confidence and come in along with the new body.  “How many pounds did you gain from that?”

          Chaor’s eyes went wide, then angry looking over at my new.  “Oh.. no, you didn’t!!!”  Yep, there’s still another girl under all that.

          I was blinded by a bright flash, then I felt a cold wind blowing all around me.  Glacier Plains.  The frozen Artic of Perim, and the place were Dad told me he had his first battle in.  I was instantly glad I chose a Creature like Intress who had plenty of fur.

          I shivered, only at the suddenness of the temperature change.  “Good thing the cold doesn’t bother her too much.”  I said in my new voice.  I looked around, when I didn’t see Chaor (Kat), I decided to take this moment to get used to my body.  _Intress is bipedal so there shouldn’t be much change._   I felt where my knee was, I raised it up and took a step.  Because Intress is much taller than I am the step went farther.  I was kind of amazed by this, and took another.  And another.  And another!

          I felt the urge to start running, my body didn’t fight it.  My new body longed to be moving fast, to erase the feeling of cold and snow and move in any way I felt I wanted to.  My claws sunk into the snow, but Intress is so limber that it felt like she could jump or dodge in any direction!    “This is amazing!!!”  I cried out like a little girl! 

          “No kidding!”

          The second I looked, I was hit by a flaming fireball.  “Augh!”  it knocked me back, hard.  But like Kit had said I didn’t feel like I was hurt.  I could feel Intress’ power be drained, however the ‘me’ inside of the Creature was perfectly fine.  I had a feeling that if this was really real, I’d be down and out with a third-degree burn in my side. 

          In the direction of the shot, walked a shivering Chaor from an ice cave.  It was actually funny seeing the fierce leader of the Underworld hugging himself from the cold.  “I-I-I’ve b-b-b-battled i-in a la-lava hole and-d-d-d desert!  Th-This!?!”

          Smirking, I got up and proclamined, “I’m just toasty!”

 Kat growled in frustration. 

“Wanna drink?”  I had asked Manny how to summon BattleGear before the match.  But just to be safe, I called it out.  “Torrent Krinth!”  and it appeared on Intress’ wrist.  I fired and aimed it at Chaor!  _Bullseye!_

Now adding insult to injury, Chaor was soaked to the bone in a freezing wasteland. And he had lost about 10 of his 65 energy.  _I’ll know my numbers are right when Kat or I’m code._   “Bleh!”  Chaor coughed out the mouthful of water.  “YOU’RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!”  He slammed both fists on the ground “ROCKWAVE!”  A series of rocks came out of the ground and made a bee-line right towards me! I jumped.

          And when I say ‘jumped’ I mean Intress launched herself up into the air away from the attack.  My mind was in a spin, so I barely registered that I had landed safely in the snow.  “Wow,” I said, still in a state of shock.  “I guess cats really do land on their feet.”

          “You’re not getting off that easy, Intress!”  Chaor roared.

          With Intress’ increased senses I could even _smell_ the burning brimstone of the Underworld on him.  And it finally dawned on me that I was really doing this.  _I can’t think of this as if I’m fighting another human girl.  I’ll just keep dodging until I lose that way.  I am Intress and over there is Chaor, the face of the enemy.  I’m one of the fiercest Warriors of the Overworld!  I can’t let him just take a hit at me and get away with it!_   Psyched, I began to remember the plan I made with Kit back in the Port Court.

          He said that Kat’s style is hit hard and hit hot.  She’s also keeps herself mentally ready for sneak attacks.  Since she’s not Takinom, and Chaor doesn’t have wings, I won’t have to worry about looking up for my enemy.  I’ll just have to edit the plan we made around Chaor’s limitations and Kat’s method of fighting.  _She thinks she has me on the run._   And I was running, but sending blasts of water her way so she wouldn’t lose me.  _Kit tried to match her in fist-a-cops and Manny tried to use mugic and special abilities._   Kat thinks she’s got the lead on us since she’s won two out of three.  All I have to do is make her lose _once_.

          I made it to the perfect spot.  An area in Glacier Plains where there’s a dangling ice cliff over my head.  I just have to make sure it’s ready to go at the right time.  “Grr!”  I could hear and smell her a ways behind me.  But for Intress’ nose, ears and instincts, Chaor was already getting closer at a steady, charging speed.  “Better be quick.  Pebble storm!”  I shot at the ceiling above, but the ice was too thick so I tried somewhere else.  Nothing was working, and a stronger attack would alert Chaor!  There were plenty of ice boulders and formations to hide around, I decided to go for an ambush and try my luck during a face off instead.

          “Intress~”  Chaor sing-songed once he arrved.  “Come on out, Kitty-cat~!”  I have a tasty Flame Torrent with your name on it.”

          _The cat-thing?  Really?_   I figured why not as I climbed up a large boulder to get a jump on my opponent. _Water’s still my best bet, I should have chosen a Location that ups those attacks.  But now’s not the time to think that!_   I got a little higher, and Chaor was still looking around.  I jumped and mid-air cried out, “Rip Tide!”  and two gushing torrents of water came out from my hands.  It felt like the power came from my arms and reaching past to somewhere in my very core!  Chaor saw me at the moment I screamed out and called for a “Magma Might!”  Which curved to the right of my attack.

          Fire and water hit each of us, dealing a lot of damage.  Chaor was knocked to the ground, and I was hit so hard by lava that I bounced of a giant icicle and  was sent sliding onto the floor.  Toward Chaor!  I was dizzy from the attack and not fully in control as I zoomed on one foot.  I felt myself collide with the fiery Underworlder and we both coughed from the impact, but kept going from my momentum until Chaor’s back hit the frozen wall. 

          My vision was blurry as I tried to get up, but I still saw the giant crack traveling up the ice wall towards the cliff.  “Yipe!”  I screeched out in a very un-Intress way.  Using all four limbs I made a break to get clear from the cliff.  Behind me, Chaor was taking longer to recover holding his head with one hand.  I heard him groan and grumble as he must have tried to get up then slip on the ice and snow.  I could hear another kind of rumbling coming from above me.  It made me leap and run faster to get out from under the cliff.  Without even thinking I called back, “Run!  It’s gonna fall!”

          I don’t know if Kat (as Chaor) got up and tried to get out, or if she didn’t hear me.  I just remember making a sliding stop as I made it out into the open and saw the whole cliff of the glacier crashing down.  And the blinding light returned.

          We were back in the BattleDrome.  Kat was back to her human form and I was….still Interess.

          I had won.

          I won?

          “I won!”  I jumped up and cheered as the white, swirling light changed me back to my black-haired, pale-skinned self. 

          To confirm the declaration, the BattleDrome voice sounded.  “ _The winner is: PerimPride_. _Congratulations._ ”

          I had done it!  “I won my very first Chaotic match!”  I had played as Intress in Glacier Plains and beaten Chaor!  Our scanners came back up, Kat and I both unlocked them from their stands.  Kat had a look that I wasn’t sure was agitated or resigned, but I was to absorbed in absolute glee that I didn’t care.  I ran straight to her and enveloped her in a tight hug.  “Thank you!”  I squealed.  “Kat, that was the most awesome thing I’ve ever done!  Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”

          After a brief laugh, Kat patted me on the back.  “Ha-Hey!  Take it down a notch there, PerimPride.  I wasn’t even this happy when I first won!”  She and I were both smiling as she kept an arm around me and walked out together.

 

          Manny and Kit both came running up to us!  Kit was looking proud… for some reason, Manny wasn’t.  Kit spoke up first.  “Angel, that was great!  You used our strategy even after Kat changed her Creature choice.  You didn’t even have to use the mugic!”

          “Yes, Kit. I am devastated by my first lose.” Kate said, sarcastically.  “But please:  Feel free to congratulate the person who left me to be crushed under the snow!”

          Snoodily, Kit replied.  “Seeing how you let two matches get to your head and left me alone with the person most likely to beat you from the start, I’d say it was your own fault you lost, Kat.”

          The two of them shared a glare, before Kat playfully punched him in the arm.  The twins chuckled and Kit said, “C’mon, I got you a feel-better chocolate shake.”

          Seeing how Kit and Kat were now fine, I was now perplexed as to why Manny looked so upset.  And at me.  _Does he think I shouldn’t have won the match?  He can’t be jealous.  Can he?_   “How did I do in there, Manny?”  I asked eagerly.  Yes, I was fishing for compliments, and still too excited to care.

          “You won didn’t you?”  Manny replied crossing his arms.  “Ya slipped- slide a few times, but ya came out on top.”

          “And…”  I tried venturing a guess.  “You’re not happy that I won?”

          “No, I’m happy for that.”  He said.

          “Then what’s wrong?”

          “YOU GAVE KAT MY HUG!”  he said.  I leaned back from his yell.  And it stopped the twins in their tracks.  “You’ve given me that hug for fifteen years every time we do something great together!  Then the second you win your first Chaotic match, you can’t wait five minutes before giving it to the closest person!  Real great friend _you_ are Angel, really great.” 

          “That’s what you’re mad about?”  Kit asked as he back with his sister.

          “Yeah!”  Manny threw up his arms like it was obvious.  “That’s _kind of_ important.  I’ve been Angel right-hand man since our diaper days.  I _always_ get that hug!  Not someone she only met a few hours ago and was throwing fireballs in her face!”

          You might not think Manny was that serious about it.  But he really was.  I know how ridiculous that sounds, especially coming from a fifteen year-old boy.  _Manny is Manny, I wouldn’t want him to be anyone else._   So I giggled and explained.  “Except when Mom’s there.  Manny, you know I always keep a spare of those right?”

          “A spare _hug_?”  Kat questioned.

          “Yep!”  I replied and gave a big hug to Manny.  “Just in case.”

          Manny hugged back, saying happily.  “Okay, that’s better, Missy.”  When he let me go, he said in a British accent.  “Now my fearsome foursome, we feast!  A celebration of the victory of the Pride of Perim!”

 

          Sure enough, we had a feast of burgers, fries and milkshakes.  No one was mad about battles or losing or any mention of the matches.  Though we had plenty to comment on as we watched other players battle from the Port Court.  We shared our amazement at this whole adventure, and how we all looked forward to going back.

          “Why do have to leave at all?”  Manny said, still chewing.  “We have Earth-selves that will keep our parents from worrying and school.  Why even go back at all?”

          “Chances are the yous, and us-es, back on Earth will think your scanners are broken and might try to replace them.”  Kat said.  “If that happens, you’ll be _stuck_ here forever, and if you get coded your other self will never know.”

          Kit continued.  “Plus, Earth is as much part of the game as Chaotic and Perim.  You can still find rare cards online from people who don’t have codes and trade the cards you still have even if you don’t have them over here.”

          “Ooo!  Ooo!”  Manny had finished with his food and looked over at me.  “Angel’s prize!  Where did you pick to go?”

          “Can we go right away, or do you want to port back home first?” Kat asked.

          Kit was eager too.  “Are we going to the Underworld or the Overworld?”

          My straw was in my mouth, so it took just a moment for me to gulp and answer them.  “Both.”  I told them.

          “Both?”  the whole table said in unison.

          “This has all been a little much and I know our brains will definitely be on overload as it is.  So why don’t we go back home and them come here in an hour?”  Safe money says Manny will have a head-rush and might even faint from all this new information.  _I’ll have to remember to breathe steadily myself._   “Then we can come back here and go to…”  I pulled out my scanner for all of them to see the location.

          “Cordac Falls!”  I thought it would be the perfect Location for all of us.  “The Falls lead directly to the Underworld from the Overworld, and I’ve heard that a lot of action goes down around there, so it’ll be a great chance to test out our scanners and get used to Perim!”

          “Sweet!”  Manny replied.

          “Alright!”  Kat cheered.

          “Phew!”  Kit whipped his brow.

          Looks like they all have a Cordac Falls too.  “But first,” I slowed my speech.  “How do we get home?”

          We all took out their scanner and began studying them.  There was no new button or instant return image on the monitors.    Thankfully, one of the service robots spotted us and offered us help.  It said we can leave home from anywhere in Chaotic when we press the target symbol on the top of our scanners.

           “Well,” Kat piped up, “See ya all in an hour!”  And she ported home, fading into light before our eyes.

          “I better go too.”  Kit said.  “It’ll be better if I know what she’s talking about when she runs out of detention.   See you, Manny!  See you, Angel!”

          It was just the two of us again.  “I’m uh…”  I had to confess.  “I’m a little unsure about this.”  _What if I just disappear?_

          Manny elbowed me.  “Hey, I came in with ya, I’ m going out with ya.”  He smiled at me encouragingly.  I smiled back.

          “On three.”

 

**Back on Earth…**

As Manny and I were walking down the street to home, I pulled out my broken scanner again.  “Manny…”  I sadly looked over at him.  “I’m really sorry.”

          “What?”  he raised an eyebrow at me.  “Angel, it wasn’t your fault.  It was an accident!  Well, an accident that we put in a code that killed both our scanners in three seconds and lost our online decks forever.”  My hand hit my own face in shame.  “Still!  It’s not your fault.  ‘You take chances and sometimes you fall and sometimes you soar.’  Isn’t that what your mom said?”

          _Yeah, but she’s going to be a little ticked off about this._   Manny and I are still a year too young to get jobs, so this repair is going to have to come from chore-money.  And Mom’s not one to hold back when it comes to doing work.  Even if we landscaped the whole yard for her it might not be enough to get a new scanner.  I sighed; this would be a long, tough defeat to take. 

          Shorter than I expected when my scanner started sounding off and buzzing in my hands!  I gasped, “Manny!”  We both stopped and looked down at my scanner.  “It’s alive!” he cheered.

          Greatly relieved, I pressed on the blinking light.  I gasped again as memories of a newfound land, a game, new friends and chances for greater adventure flowed into my mind!  My head jerked back from the rush of images so new to my brain.  “Whoa!” 

          Manny came right over like a good friend and steadied me.  “It’s a miracle, but it’s not _that_ amazing.”  He said.

          “Quick, Manny, take out your scanner!”  I told him.

          He reached behind him and pulled it out of his backpack.  “Oh, yeah!  Maybe me too.”  The light was blinking, Manny pressed it.  His face went blank as all the memories of Chaotic caught up to him.  “Yow-zah!”

          We looked around.  We were back.  School was over, and along with the memories of today were a whole set of impossible, but real memories.

          “Dude!”  Manny said to me.

          “I know!”  I said to him.

          “Dude!”  His hands few up to his head.

          “I know!”  I broke out into a happy dance! 

          Manny watched, screaming out one last time, “Angel!”

          “One hour!”  I reminded him.  “One hour and we go back and meet them in the Port Court!”  We both sped home, happily laughing like little children.

          My first day in Chaotic was a mind-blowing.  I made new friends, battled as one of my favorite Creatures, and won in my first match ever!  There was an unspoken agreement between Manny and I that our parents couldn’t know about this.  His dad was off touring and Mom had never been a Chaotic Player.  Neither of them would believe this anyway.  I’ve just been there and I could barely believe it!  My life would never be the same after today.  My childhood dream of going to Perim was coming true!

          My own adventures were just in their first steps.  And what I was about to find out, was that the finish line would lead to something bigger than I had ever dreamed.


	5. Three Worlds Collide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word is getting out: Chaotic is making a comeback for next year! If you want to see more of the show, please support it! Also be sure leave some comments (and/or critics) after the chapter!

**Three Worlds Meet**

          Even if my real self wasn’t going, and would instead be stuck at home doing homework, I still feel like today was my birthday times five!  “I’m going to Perim!”  I tried to keep it as under my breath as possible.  Mom still heard the squeak as she came to the front door.

          Mom is a myrmecologist…. she studies ants.  Yeah, believe me it’s more interesting than it sounds!   They look at a range of things from society cooperation methods to landscape designs and relate ant society to human society.  Mom’s usually home late, so for her to answer the door right when I get out of school is pretty awesome.   _But not as awesome as what I did today!_

          Squealing, “Mommy!”  I jump up and hug her around the middle.  Mom was taken aback, then she hugged me right back.

          “Whoa!  I was opening the door for my aloof, spunky, fifteen-year-old daughter.  When did my cute, cheerful, five-year-old, Angel get here?”  She joked.  _Yeah, she’s where I get my terrific sense of humor and strong-woman morale from._   Mom is beautiful with her short blonde hair and teal-greenish eyes.  The only family resemblance is our pale skin, I also think I get my face-shape from her. 

          “Mom, I-” for a moment I briefly think about telling her.  Chaotic might have been Mom’s thing when she was a teenager, but that’s not the case anymore.  She’s an adult woman, a scientist.  I don’t even think she went to Chaotic; she just had a few cards to give me that didn’t even make a full deck. 

          I pulled out my scanner which was off.  “I heard about a new program for the scanners in Chaotic Club today!”

          Mom’s interested was quipped for a second.  Her voice remained neutral.  “Oh, really?”

          “Yeah!  It’s… It’s not as huge as the history homework I have but, I got it as a prize for my 50th win online.  They even let me share it with Manny.”  Hopefully, this will allow Manny to get away with a bit too.  Manny goes straight to his house, then he comes over here for dinner or Mom and I go across to his.  This keeps him on his toes to keep the house fairly clean.  I meant it when I said Manny is like my brother, he suffers under the same Mom too!

          When I told her about the new ‘program’, Mom sighed.  “Angel… Sweetie, I don’t want to stop you from having fun with your friends, but you do know you go to school to _learn_ , right?”  A lot of the time my Mom is a killjoy, even when she’s not trying to be.  She hardly ever lets me or Manny do anything fun or exciting.  Yeah, Moms are there to keep you safe, I know.  _And a part of me was hoping she’ll at least ask further about the program.  If she does then it’d prove she used to be a Chaotic Player._   So I figured it was just Dad who went.

          I kept a natural smile on my face, despite any inner disappointment.  “I’m doing that!  I even got a B on the last history exam.  This is just so exciting because only Manny and I won it!”

          “Can I see this new program?”  Mom asked.  “What’s it called?”

          _Shoot!_   I forgot to be prepared for this line of Inquisition.  I made something up on the spot that seemed legit.  “Sure, Mom.  But my scanner needs to reset and recharge for a while.  I don’t know how long; I really want you to see this!”  That had part of the truth.  I _was_ secretly hoping I could talk to Mom about this without her sending me to a therapist.

          She looked skeptical for a second.  _Either she buys it because she’s never been there, or she doesn’t because she’s been there too!_   I really hoped for the latter.  Mom and I are pretty close; I’d love to talk with her about Perim.  I _want_ her to call my bluff and say she doesn’t believe me. 

          “Did it cost you anything?”  she asked.  Inwardly, my face fell.  Outwardly, it was accepting.  She was actually asking if _she_ would have to pay.  “Nope.  It was more like a contest, my 50th straight win!”

          “50?!”  Sure, _that_ was the surprise for her.  “Manny too?”

          I was about to answer, when I realized the truth of the two emails.  I hadn’t really read Manny’s, but I knew for a fact that he didn’t have that kind of a winning streak lately.  “Uh….I’m not really sure what his category was, Mom.  But he got it too!”

          “Then I guess it’s a good thing I ordered all three of our favorite pizzas tonight!”  At Mom’s sentence, I was able to forgive her for not being a Chaotic   
Player!

         

**In Chaotic:**

          I left myself at home doing my homework ( _Wow, that could not sound any more weird)_ with a plan of what to tell Mom if she asked anything else about the new program.  I made sure to send a text to Manny about it so our stories would be straight.  Then I activated my scanner and found my second trip to Chaotic much easier than the first.

          There were still a lot of people hanging around.  “Okay,” I said to myself, walking off the transport.  “Now just need to wait for the others-”

          “A self-talker, huh?”  The voice that surprised me from behind was none other than my new friend: Kat Kalinkas.   She folded her arms as she walked up to me.  “Well, that’s fine I guess.  Kit and Dad do that too.”

          Kat Kalinkas.  In the few hours I knew her I’d learned this:  She’s an Underworld player; She’s a twin, a daredevil, and a Chaotic-savvy know-how.  I have a good feeling that she’s a worth-while friend.  I mean, our whole trip is because we all had a mini tournament and she won all the others except mine.  She even looks pretty psyched to be here.

          “Ha, ha!”  I laughed sarcastically.   Then I noticed Kat had a backpack dropped by her side.  “Where did you get that?” 

          Kat looked down at the bag then up at me.  “Another feature about this place.”  She explained.  “I was holding onto my own pack when I came over here, and when I logged on, it just came with me.”

          This was a surprising discovery.  I scratched my head and reasoned it out.  “Well, I guess it counts as clothes when the scanners log us in.  I mean, imagine if the first time you got your code and you were in your underwear or something.”

“Underwear!  That’d be humiliating.”

          The rest of our group chose now to appear on the transport.  “Girls talk about underwear?”  observed Kit, Kat’s twin brother.  He’s a lot more rational than his sister.

          “The secret is out!” declared Manny, slightly eccentric, but the best friend I’ve ever had.  “Girls pretend to be better than us, until they think no one is listening.”

          “Let’s not go there, Manny.”  I warned him.  “Check it out!  Kat’s brought her own backpack.”

          “Why?” Manny asked.

          Kat put an evil grin on her face and told him.  “To see if a Creature eats my homework, and it will come back demolished and have an auto A+!”

          _If this little band is this interesting before our first trip to Perim, what kind of adventure am I in for?_   I was so excited!  I could just feel that this was going to blow every trip to a national museum, amusement park and camping trip I had ever been on!  My choice Location was Cordac Falls, it would be the first trip to Perim for me, Manny, Kit and Kat!  Normally, I’d have and itching camera finger for this big of a trip, but the goal was to come back of scans of the Location and maybe even a Creature scan or two!  

          _Oh, my gosh the Creatures!_   I lingered on my thoughts as the other three discussed Kat’s backpack coming over.  I looked through my scanner again.  I knew everything about these cards.  One the first things I learned was the little quotations on some of them that reveal stuff about their personalities and experiences.  I tried to recall if any of them spent a lot of time around the Falls.  Remembering what Dad told me would be a lot to shuffle through, all of it was too much at once.  _I wonder if there’s any chance there are some of them who remember Dad?_   He wasn’t the only Chaotic Player, despite my initial imaginings.  But he did talk about being friends with some of them.  So odds are he was.

          “Hello~!  Angel, do you copy?”  Manny called into my ear.

          I jolted out of my thoughts to see the three of them staring at me.  “Sorry, I… I was just thinking…”  _Come to think of it, all of us here are second-generation players._   “Does anyone know how long it’s been, in Perim-terms, since humans came here?”

          Manny said.  “About thirty years.  Could be older, depending how old our folks were at the time.”

          “And Perim runs on a different time system.”  Kit chimed in.  “Two years for us is just one year for them.  _Solons_ , is the term I think.”

          “So…” Manny took in this information.  “Is a day for us, like a half-day for them?”

          “I don’t think that’s how it works.”  Kit said, but he looked unsure.

          I summarized the answer.  “But if thirty years have gone by for us, that’s just fifteen for them!”

          Kat pushed through our line of questions, physically.  “Argh!  Why are we even asking this when we could be already out there?  So what, if there hasn’t been a single human here in a while?  That was our parent’s turn, now it’s us who have a go!”

          Manny pumped his fist in agreement.  “Yeah!”

          “I guess it’s not _that_ important.”  Kit said, adjusting his glasses.

          _I think it’s important._ I kept my thoughts to myself.  “Okay!  Everyone got a Cordac Falls in their deck?  It’s my choice, but I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”  Manny, Kit and Kat all held up their scanners to show me they had the Falls.  At this point my excitement was about to explode.  “Sweet~!  I can’t believe we’re really going!” I was jumping from foot to foot!

          “Get used to this, guys.”  Manny said to the twins.  “Whenever Angel gets psyched she’s-”

          Kat came and grabbed my hands, jumping in time with me.  “I know!  I know!”

          “Already used to it.”  Kit whispered to Manny.

          The two of them shared a look.  Then Manny broke into our celebration circle.  “Woo-hoo!”  To which Kit shrugged and let himself join in our happy reverie.  We didn’t even notice the people staring at us.

          It turned out Kat bringing her own backpack was a moot point, as the Transport Center also had an equipment shop that could get what we needed, and without any kind of return policy.  It was also an apparent new feature to Chaotic, or just something Kat and Kit’s Dad glossed over.  _My dad didn’t really go into this much detail either._   In the end, we decided we could port back if we need anything, so we didn’t need backpacks for a short trip.

          “Okay! Enough fluff and filler, let’s go already!”  Manny tapped his foot impatiently.  Kat was right next to him doing pretty much the same, as Kit and I came running up.  “I already got the 4-1-1 on how port back-and-to from those lil’ robots.  Everybody stand on a circle!”

          From there Manny’s directions went like this:

  1. Stand in middle of the white circle.
  2. Bring up the Location on the scanner.
  3. Set to transport on options.
  4.   Press center button.



          For me, I automatically held my breath on step 4.  I don’t know if I can describe the sensation of being teleported… because I was so awestruck at where I was in just one second! 

          I was standing in a forest. 

Cool, clean air was blowing. 

Dark green, light green and every green in between leaves curled and flowed from all around.  Trees reaching up towards the sky of pale blue almost made me think I was back on Earth.  But the flowers were different.  The smell of the air was different.  Even the soil beneath my feet felt on odd combination of soft, yet firm.  And if I needed one more confirmation that I hadn’t accidently ported home somehow, the all three of my friends standing with me, equally amazed, was enough.

          We were in Perim.

          The thought just hadn’t quite sunk in yet.

          Then suddenly, I knew my childhood fantasy was now, officially, my reality!!!

          “Guys…!”  Kit’s eyes couldn’t get any bigger.

          “We’re…”  Kat’s jaw was wide open!

          Then Manny said, “Do you guys see a bathroom?”      

          To which the twins joined me in saying:  “Manny!!”

 

          After that, we began our first look at this new world.  It reminded me of the hiking trip to Yosemite I took when I was a kid.  The air was colder and cleaner, lush plants that I had never seen before grew everywhere!  There was also this exotic feel to the forest here, like the small details of the leaves and bark that said ‘this is not the Earth.’  My friends let me lead the way once I told them I had trail-blazing experience.

          “That trip to Yosemite has nothing on this!”  I said.  The hiking trips I took with my parents are always my favorites.  “Dad taught me everything about nature survival, Mom… spas are more her thing.”

          Manny came up behind me.  “Yeah, those lavender soaks aren’t so bad!”

          “You just like the chocolates they hand out.”  I said back.

          To which Manny shrugged.  “82 varieties.  It was an education.”

          “Are you guys really not siblings?”  Kat asked, with Kit right behind her taking in the magnificent sight.

          Manny explained while I moved some branches out of our way.  “Call us a clan.  Angel and I go way back, and so do our parents.  The two of us have been thicker than thieves even after-”

                   “Look!”  I pointed up ahead.  There was a river!  “I’ll bet that leads right to the falls!  Let’s go!”  I took off running.  From the sounds behind me the others were close behind.  But the farthest voice, Kit’s, called out from behind.  “Angel, shouldn’t we take it easy? We don’t really know this place!”

          I think Kat was closest behind me now cause I heard her loud and clear when she called back to him.  “Easy?  Kit, c’mon this is Perim!” 

          If their conversation went any farther than that, I didn’t hear it.  My thoughts were once again swept up in excitement.  _This is Perim!  So_ anything _can happen here!_ And I already had so many places in mind that I wanted to go.  But right now I was already over the moon with the fact that I was here, going to see Cordac Falls as more than just a picture! 

          Following the river, as much as I love running, even Kat and I had to slow to walk.  It gave Manny and Kit time to catch their breath, and time for all four of us to look around the area.  It was nice, but even as cliffs to the Falls became closer, Kat let out a groan.  “Uuuuuugggghhh!  Why weren’t we just ‘ported’ there when we set our scans.  It got us close, but when they tell ya ‘at the Falls’, you’d think they’d mean ‘ **at** the Falls!’”

          Kit pulled out his scanner and said,  “Sis, did you ever take a really good look at the card?”  Kit held it up for all of us who stopped to see.  “Look in the background, there is a wide river and a forest behind it.”

          “So we’re there by technicality.”  Manny folded his arms like he does when he’s sarcastic and frustrated.  “Not so great for taking pictures, but hey!  Let’s get a scan of a closer spot when we get there for next time.”

          “Sounds like the idea to me.”  Kit agreed.

          “It’s called a tourist trap.”  Manny clarified.

          _I don’t understand why these guys are complaining.  This is a great way to learn about Perim.  Sure, we’re a little ways off, but we’re here to see things too!_ “Cordac Falls is the objective,” I told everyone leading on, “But don’t forget to look around, guys!  I mean, this place is amazing!  I wouldn’t have wanted to start anywhere else!”

          **??? POV (A/N: I do that sometimes)**

Maxxor ordered me to scout Cordac Falls.  Underworlders and Danians still try to climb up from time to time.  He knows I can see far with nothing escaping my sight.  Owis suffered an injury and had to be healed; he is a noble warrior for guarding this place for so long, I do not mind taking the deed. 

It has been fairly quiet.  For many years, it has been relatively quiet all over Perim.  The tribes still war, even a few M’arillians show their unwelcomed faces and are quickly beaten back.  But there’s hardly any commotion since all the humans disappeared.

          Those pests!  Granted, some of them had their uses.  And… more than a few of those were close friends to other Creatures.  They came, matured into adulthood, and then, suddenly they all vanished.  The response from the tribes was mixed.  But no denying it gave birth to a still-going 30 solons of peace. 

          Or… as close as Perim may see as peace for an extended time.  And I should not blame humans alone for calamity, the other tribes also-

          “Now what?!”  From below my position on the rocks I hear a voice.  Unfamiliar, young, angry and female.  “We have to climb?”

          Young Overworlders do not come to this Location and not know what to expect.  Could some Mipedian children have gotten this far?  Prince Mudeenu must be trying to train his spies to be even younger!  The audacity of those cold-blooded lizards…

          I feel a second of conflict, but children or not, these spies should learn what it means to be in enemy territory.  I ready my bow; I can see them from the rocks before they see me from here.  I peer out.

          “What…?”  Those-  Those children are…!

 

**Angel’s POV**

          “Like it or not boys, we’re racing!”  I call back to Kit and Manny.  Kat and I are well ahead on the Cliffside.  This place is relatively easy to climb, it’s just that everyone’s getting a little tired.  And I use that to my advantage to be the first one up.  “Just remember!  Hand-hand and foot-foot when climbing!”

          I looked back to see that everyone was heeding my advice.  Manny was actually neck-in-neck with Kat, and the only reason she was slowing down was to make sure that her brother, who looked terrified, was okay.  I went back to concentrating on my own climb.  I just snuck a look at the view around me when I’d stop and wait a few seconds for everyone.  _Livin’ the dream!_

Finally, after a little longer climbing, my hand finds a wide spread of solid rock, telling me that we’ve made it.  I breath a bit, just taking everything in. 

I’m in Perim. 

I’ve climbed a mountain side. 

And I am _standing on_ THE Cordac Falls! 

          Shifting my body so that it takes the lasts steps carefully, I stand up on the ledge and overlook the forest we just walked out of.  On the card, there’s just a little bit of it with some mountains and sky.  But here!  Here the greenery stretches on for miles, the mountain range goes even farther and I can visibly see the water moving beneath the sun and hear the roar of the falls!   Speaking of which!

          “Guys hurry, you gotta see this!”  _Cause I’m already seeing it and I still can’t believe it._   Cordac Fall is a waterfall of two channels coming out of a face that seems to be carved into the side.  It falls far.  So far that as I gaze over the edge just to see it for myself, I can see the water falling down into a shining red pit of lava!  This is also my first view of the Underworld…

          One by one, the others follow and gaze around in amazement along with me.  Manny says, “This is…”

          And Kat finishes, “Unreal…”

          Kit’s the first one to pull his scanner out.  “I’m making my first scan of here!”

          “Yeah!”  I suddenly remembered that and took out my own scanner.  “Uh… how does that work?”  It’s a good thing Kit and Kat’s dad apparently gave them such thorough descriptions of this place.  _So backpacks count as clothing, Location cards are wild cards, and once you get to a certain spot at a Location you can scan it and come back to that exact spot later._   Once all four of us had our own Location scan of Cordac Falls, Kat started looking around.

          “Is that it?”  She asked. 

          “What?  Long hike through uncharted terrain aren’t enough for ya, Kat?”  Manny said.

          She retorted.  “Hey, I liked seeing the place, but didn’t you guys notice anything?”

          Kit was the first to realize.  Since he was right next to me, he grabbed onto my shoulder.  “She’s right!  Look around, we’re the only ones here.”

          “Didn’t I just say that?”  Manny responded.

          I realized it too.  And when I did, I explained it to Manny.  “Creatures, Manny!  We just trekked through a forest and up to one of the most frequent battle locations in Perim.  We haven’t even seen any other humans here, it’s like the Falls are deserted.”

          Cordac Falls is _not_ a tourist trap place.  Even if no one has been here in years, there are plenty of stories of battles taking place at Cordac Falls.  It’s a direct route to and from the Overworld!  If anyone can survive it.  It’s well-known to always be guarded both above and below by the respective tribes.  If a deadly fall doesn’t kill you, there’s always a Creature waiting to do the job.  Yet, why have we four little humans come up here with such ease? 

          “Maybe they’re on vacation?”  Manny suggested.  I rolled my eyes, Kat hit her palm to her face and Kit just shook his head in disapproval.  “Oh great, now there’s a limit on jokes.”

          “Yeah, you can only say the funny ones.”  Kat told him.

          This was still a fun trip for us.  We did get to see Perim.  “Manny, this was just a beginner’s trip for us.”  I reminded him, standing next to my best friend.  “Next time we’ll try a more high traffic area like a city or-”

          The next thing we heard was a strange noise of something coming in close.  But it wasn’t coming from the direction of the forest, it was coming from inside the falls!  Like something was rapidly hitting the sides of the rock.  All at once, our group rushed over to see what it was. 

We all either gasped or screamed at what we saw!  I think we all knew who he was.   An Underworld spy, and one with a nasty reputation.  Eight legs, eight eyes, sharp teeth and a menacing hiss; his name is Spyder.

          And that Creature did not even stop as he snarled, “I see you, **_Overworlders_**!” 

          We all screamed!  Chaotic may have been down for almost two decades, but this guy’s rep is nothing but frightening!  Running away from the inside ledge, we realize that there’s not enough space for us to outrun an eight-legged monster.  As Kit so pointed out, “We’re trapped!”  If Spyder had mistaken us for Overworlders, then no question:  We are dead!

          “This way!”  I point out to the side.  “We’ll have to run along the cliff!”  At least that way we can avoid him. 

          “Out of the way!”  A blur of white zipped between me and the group.  “You’re not getting into the Overworld today Spyder!”  This Creature stood on two… legs, like a person.  Had the head of a bird and was wearing a dark green tunic, and wielding a bow and arrows.  This was another known Creature, and another with a not-so-friendly relations to humans.  I remembered his name is Frafdo.  He’s not evil like Spyder, but according to Dad, he’s not someone you want to run into twice.

          “You’re not getting into the Overworld today or _any_ day, Spyder!”  Frafdo  flies into the air, aiming over the edge with his arrows.  He fired two of them, it sounded like they hit.  Spyder fires back with some kind of web which Frafdo dodges and shoots another arrow.

          Spyder called back, “Toxic Gust!”  And blast of green air hits Frafdo square in the chest.    I look and see that the others are just as frozen in fear as I am.  What are we supposed to do?  Run? With these two going at it, it’s more likely the debris falling off the Falls will do us in before we reach the bottom than not.  And if Frafdo loses…

          I see Frafdo crash onto the ground.  He’s coughing like he’s not breathing right.

          “He’s hurt, we have to help!”  I say.

          “How?”  Kit asks, “I don’t know about you, but I think this is where the _scanner_ option comes into play.”

          Kat, Manny and I all get the same we-are-dumb looks on our faces.  In all the excitement, I guess we forgot we could just teleport back with the press of a button.  We all got our scanners out to go.

          “Uuuuuhhh….” From behind us on the ground, Frafdo groaned.    
I paused before my finger touched my scanner.  If I left now, what would be Frafdo’s guarantee of getting out of this?  True, his purpose may not have been to directly save us.  But all the same, what he was doing kept us from be hurt by Spyder. 

          I shoved my scanner back into my pocket and ran over to Frafdo.  “Can you get up?”  I quickly asked from behind him. 

          Frafdo glared up at me.  “I never asked for your help!”

          _Grouchy!_   “That doesn’t mean you couldn’t use it!” I protested.  I looked over my shoulder as I helped the angry avian to get back on his feet, but the others were gone.  _I guess they ported back already._   Frafdo once more took out his bow and began firing down into the canyon.  “Plasm arrow!”  He shouted sending the attack right into Spyder’s face.  It knocked the Underworlder down a bit, but he still clung to the wall.  Frafdo fell again.  He hasn’t recovered from that Toxic Gust and it will cost him with Spyder coming back.

          _I said I would help and I will._   I looked around for something to use.  Frafdo is a trained warrior so there’s no way a Chaotic-newbie like me can do anything like actually attack.  _I gotta keep my head focused and my eyes open.  There’s got something here I- yes!_   The side of Cordac Falls has loose rocks.  Sure, that’s primitive and mediocre to say the least.  It’ll work though.  I go over to side, out of Frafdo’s way.  A lot of the rocks can easily fit in my hand, but they won’t do much to make Spyder fall back into the Underworld.  I just need ones that can endure several hits over and over again.  Moving fast, I find about seven rocks that I need and carry them in my open pack back over to where Frafdo is fighting.

          I can’t distract him while he’s fighting.  That would give Spyder an opening or make him realize it’s two against one up here.  So I peer over the side, hoping it’s not too much of me that’s seen.  Spyder isn’t quite in the right place, but hopefully as he gets higher, he’ll move closer.  There’s a giant crack on the inside of the falls, I start pounding away at it using the rocks I carried.  I have to lift them high up in order to make an impact.  Once this falls on top of Spyder, it will hopefully be enough to send him tumbling.  _Not the highest guarantee of success, but’s about all I can do at this point._   I hit the crack over and over again.  Spyder is moving closer, I can’t tell if Frafdo is making him move that way or not.  _I really need to pray for luck on this one._   The Falls are too loud for me to call up for help from him.   “C’mon!  C’mon…!”

          Spyder’s menacing hisses sound closer than ever!  Raising the rock over my head I slam it down with everything I’ve got! 

A loud cracking alerts me that a huge chunk of the cliff has been broken… under me!  I see the stone in front of me begin falling down, and I feel the ground under me preparing to go with it!  I try to reach for my quick escape: my scanner.  But the ground falls beneath me before I can get it!

          “Aaaaaahhhh!”  My screams are accompanied by that of Spyder’s, who I see has indeed been hit and falling into the chasm of the falls.  And I have the best view because _I’m_ the one falling in after him!  _I didn’t want this kind of a view of the Falls!_  

          “Vine Snare!”  bellows over my screams.  Suddenly I have green vines suspending me by my arms and shoulders, watching the Underworld spy fall helplessly down to where he came from.  I’m held there for a few seconds.  Just breathing.  Just grateful that I’m not the one tumbling down to what’s practically the center of Perim.  I then look up to see that the vines are coming out of Frafdo’s claw and they’re pulling me back up.

          Once I’m back in the sunlight, however, Frafdo continues using his vines to keep me suspended in the air.  This time in front of his bird-like face.  _I think my last view was less scary._   I can’t tell if he’s angry at me or if that’s just the way his face looks.  I let out a nervous laugh and say, “Heh, thanks for saving me.”

          He doesn’t say anything.

          _Is this an interrogation or something?  Is he going to drop me?_   “Um…”  I really don’t know what he’s going to do.  “Frafdo?”  So I ask.  “Are you going to put me down?”

          “So you know my name.”  He states.  “You came here from Chaotic.  Are there others like you?”

          _It’s an interrogation._   I don’t know what I did wrong, but it can’t hurt to answer him.  “Well… sure.  I can’t say how many.  You’ve caught a newbie on her first day in-”

          “Chaotic.”  He finishes.  “Why are you humans returning now?”

          I answer his question with a question.  Honestly, he’s starting to seem really rude and that irritates me.  “Do you know why the humans _left_?  Cause that’s a mystery to all of us too.”  I see what might be an eyebrow raise on Frafdo’s face.  _Okay, so his face can change._   “Do you have any other questions?”  I say to him.  “Cause for every one you have, I think I have at least a dozen more.”

          “Then just answer one more.”  He said.  Frafdo then, rather gently, placed me down on the ground.  The vines slithered back and vanished into his clawed hand.  “Who are you, and why did you try to help me?”

          That was two questions.  Though I have not right to chide.  “Well, I helped you because I could.”  I tell him.  “Truth:  you’re the first one I’ve helped who isn’t a human.  But I was here, I saw a way I could help someone and… I just did.  Just panicking and leaving while someone else gets hurt isn’t exactly a commendable action.  Not to me.  I was raised that way.   Plus, you did save me and my friends from Spyder attacking us.  One good turn deserves another.”

          Frafdo looked down at me as he pondered my words.  _Guess he isn’t very trusting._   Can’t blame him though.  Humans have been gone for this world for a long, long time.  To see for kids just out in the middle of nowhere must really be surprising for someone.  “Can you…understand that?”  I ask.

          Frafdo crossed his arms.  Again, I couldn’t read what he felt.  “Somewhat.”  _Wait.  Was that a smile?_   “You didn’t answer the first part of the question, child.  What is your name?”

          “I’m Angel.”  I told him with a smile.  “Angel Majors.”

 

          Porting back to Chaotic, I looked around for the Manny, Kat and Kit.  The found me before I found them!

          “Oh my gosh!”  Kit was the first to reach me.  Hugging me around the arms he began asking in a panic.  “Are you alright?  Why didn’t you port back?  Did you get hurt?  Which one of them won?  Do you know how worried we’ve been!?”

          I patted him on the back.  “Kit, chill!  You sound like my mom.”  After he let go, Kit stood between Manny and Kat.  “If you guys wanted to know I was okay, why didn’t any of you port back?”

          “We wanted to!”  Manny said, looking ashamed.  “But… That really caught us off-guard, Angel.  And the shops here don’t offer any kind of weapon or shields, or nothing.”  Something told me he had probably checked that too.  “Ange, we’re really sorry.”

          “We also figured you wanted to help Hawk Hood.”  Kat added in.  “ So if he just appeared at the wrong time you coulda been in even more danger if we messed something up.”

          Kit folded his arms and sent a mad look at his sister.  “You know you only _sound_ right because that’s what I told you, right?”  Kat nudged him and Kit looked honestly regretful at me.  “I’m sorry too, Angel.  I just… All we have of that place is old bedtime stories.  We kinda thought it would be like our parents’ adventures.  The kind where…”

          Kit was rubbing his elbow.  Manny and Kat likewise were at a loss for words.  And I think I understood where they were coming from.  “Where in the fairytale land there’s no chance you can ever get hurt or feel pain.”  I said.  I wasn’t mad at them.  Not one bit.  “Kat, Manny, Kit.”  I spread out my arms and got them all into a hug somehow.  “I’m not mad at you guys.  Frafdo won the fight, and he let me go back after he talked to me.  That was actually pretty cool!  Just next time:  All for one and one for all, okay?”

          They all responded in agreement.  Chaotic is real.  That means the danger is real too.  It’s not like me to back out of a game.  Not out of pride, but for a love of adventures that just seems to run in my blood.  Walking back with my still-friends to the food court, Kat manage to put her arm around me so she could ask,  “So… What did you and the flying Overworlder talk about?”

          I responded with a shrug.  “Not much really.  He wanted to know who I was, why I had helped him and why humans suddenly appeared again.  I couldn’t answer much on the last one.  Frafdo _did_ tell me that it’s been  about 30 solons since he saw a human.  How long is that in Earth years again?”

          “Half the number.”  Kat said without missing a beat.  “We went over this before we left, Angel.  Even **I** was listening.”

          I looked down at my scanner. I didn’t get a scan of Frafdo.  He’s a grump, but not a bad guy.  And it didn’t feel right to just scan him without permission somehow.  _Maybe if I run into him I can ask._   He had asked me some odd questions, and I wasn’t able to read him at all.  He didn’t hurt me, but his behavior was pretty hostile.  More than I had expected it to be.  But hey!  I survived my first meeting with an Overworld Creature.  He was tough, and not all that friendly.  There’s nothing really I can do about that though.

          For now, I really want a cheeseburger and soda!

         

          **Later that night in Kiru City…**

**No One’s POV**

Frafdo walked carefully into the deserted Council room.  This meeting had to be kept a secret.  He sent the message immediately after the girl waved good-bye and ported back to Chaotic.  Frafdo received a response and came to Kiru City once Owis returned to guard Cordac Falls again.

          “It’s unlike you to ask for a secret meeting, Frafdo.”  said a deep voice from the shadows.  “I can assume that this is an urgent matter.”  The voice belonged to none other than the leader of the whole Overworld Tribe.  Maxxor appeared in the light facing Frafdo.  The Overworlder bowed to his king, then began to explain.

          “Yes, Maxxor.  While I was watching over Cordac Falls on my assignment, Spyder tried to make a break to sneak in.”

          At this Maxxor sighed.  “I know he has other ways of getting into our territory.  Word of Owis being injured must have made it to the Underworld.  Do you suppose there is more to this attack?”  Maxxor wouldn’t put it past Chaor  to humiliate him by sending a platoon of warriors through one of the most safe-guarded locations he ruled over. 

          “No.  Nothing more than an ego-play on Spyder’s part, I believe.”  Frafdo then looked directly into the leader’s eyes as he explained the next part.  “I received help in defeating Spyder by…”  Frafdo wasn’t sure how to present this information.  He would have to be careful.

          Maxxor grew suspicious at Frafdo’s pause.  “By who?”  he asked.

          “By… children, mistaken for Overworlders.”  Though how Spyder mistook them, Frafdo couldn’t understand.

          “Mistaken?”  Maxxor repeated.  “Are you saying that _Mipedians_ snuck that far into our lands?”  Mipedian relations with Maxxor’s tribe weren’t any easier than they were before.  Maxxor knew that some Overworlders were friends with Mipedians from the M’arillian Invasion years ago, but if a group of young ones got as far as Cordac Falls, Maxxor would have to order them to be hunted.

          “No, sire!”  Frafdo quickly stopped him.  “Not Creature-children.  Humans!  Chaotic Players are returning to Perim!”

          Maxxor barely seemed to react outwardly.  He had received other reports like this from Intress, Antidaeon,  Lystone and even Najarin.  Maxxor was greatly surprised and disturbed by this.  He was also somewhat happy.  There were good humans as well as bad, and those who tended to favor his tribe where mostly good.  Maxxor still remembered that even he had a friend among the Humans years ago… 

Calmly, he assured Frafdo, “I am aware of the Humans’ Return.”  He said.  “They are mostly children, like the ones you have seen.  But they have caused us no trouble, so there is no reason in deeming them a threat.”

          Frafdo still had more to say.  He felt like his leader should know the next part.  “But there is something particular about the human who…”  the proud Creature hated to say this, “saved me.”  Even  Maxxor did a double-take at these words.  Frafdo was a respected and able warrior, above all he was a very proud Overworlder.  For him to say that his life was saved by someone else was unheard of!  “While three of the four humans fled, one stayed behind and aided me in Spyder’s downfall.”

          “How?”  Maxxor asked.  Curious as to what a human could do that Frafdo couldn’t.

          “She gathered stones from the mountainside and used them to  break off a piece of the cliff to knock Spyder back down.  She said that she refused to abandon another while she had the ability to assist them.”  That explained, to Maxxor at least, why Frafdo was admitting to have been saved.  Proud as he was, Frafdo did highly value honor and integrity like all Overworlders did.  This child must have deserved the credit for this Overworlder to admit it.

          Maxxor smiled at his friend.  “Then it appears you have a new ally, Frafdo.”  He said this, knowing Frafdo had never really been too fond of humans in the past.

          “There is more, Maxxor.”  Frafdo continued.  He knew he should get to the point now, this conversation was going too long.  “The child gave me her name afterwards.  It’s….  She is…”

          Agitation was becoming slightly visible on Maxxor’s face.  Then Frafdo finally said, “She bears the name of Majors.  As in-”

          “Tom…” Shock, fear and bewilderment washed over Maxxor’s green, tattooed face.  Could the child Frafdo saw really be….?  Maxxor demanded, right then and there that Frafdo give him a full, detailed report of what happened.  And what the girl looked like.


End file.
